NaPodPoMo Day 30 – Lessons Learned from a Month of Podcast Episodes

Welcome back to the RadicalRx show where we explore radical strategies for living, learning and thriving in this beautiful, messy world. I'm Ellen K. Martin, your host. Today is the final day of NaPodPomo National Podcast Post Month and today I'm wrapping up this month long podcasting journey by reflecting on some valuable lessons learned. Whether you've been with me from the start or just tuning in, thank you for joining me in this great experiment.

Let's talk about some of the lessons I've learned over the course of this month creating these episodes. First of all, don't bite off more than you can chew. Ambition is great, but it's important to set realistic goals. Over committing can lead to burnout. Ask me how I know I actually bit off more than I can chew this month. Between caretaker duties, running my course launcher business and recording these podcast episodes.

It was honestly a bit much. Don't put it off. Procrastination only adds stress. Tackling tasks early on can make the process smoother. Number three, Practice makes perfect. Or does it? Consistency leads to improvement. But don't worry about perfection. Just keep going. One of the biggest wins for me this month is that I am now more comfortable with recording these episodes and I'm ready to jump into longer episodes in the months to come.

And I plan on doing a lot of recording during the month of December. So, number four, Set clear intentions. Knowing your why can keep you motivated. I didn't really set very clear intentions and goals in the beginning, so when I started getting a little bit stressed out about posting every day, I had to stop and reflect on why. Why was I doing this? My. My intentions evolved into gaining more practice and doing more consistent content creation.

And that. That's what kept me going. Number five is embrace imperfection. Don't let the pursuit of perfection hold you back. Just start creating and refine as you go. I actually missed a few days this month and I decided I'm not going to try to make them up. I achieved my goals and I'm going to let this Napod Pomo experiment be perfectly imperfect. Let me reflect a little bit on the style of these episodes and the kind of support I had for recording them.

So first of all, you need to find what is your preferred style. Not every format suits everyone. If you're going to do podcasts, maybe being a talking head isn't your thing. Maybe you need to explore different ways to share your message. One thing I realized during this experiment is that I don't really like talking to the camera with a script like I'm doing right now. I prefer to have conversations with other people.

So in the coming months, I'm going to be doing more interviews and conversations, and I'll still mix in a few Talking Head videos as well to talk about new ideas that I'm coming up with along the way. And as far as the resources that I leveraged, I'm going to say don't hesitate to use the tools and other support systems. They can turn a daunting task into an achievable one.

Chatty Cathy, my nickname for ChatGPT, and other AI tools were essential in helping me organize my thoughts into a more cohesive script. I'd have a conversation with Chatty Cathy and I'd tell her what I wanted to say, and she helped me refine it because it was all just a bunch of jumbled words in my head. I wouldn't have been able to complete the 30 days of content creation without the help of tools like ChatGPT.

How about the Joy of Creation? I'll tell you what I really enjoyed creating this month, and I think it's important to embrace the joy. I loved creating, connecting with people, and I really believe that finding joy in the process, in the journey itself, in the great experiment, finding the joy is the key. It's been an incredible month of learning, reflection, and just growth for me, and I want to thank you for being a part of this amazing experiment.

Remember, whether it's a month of podcasting or any other project, the lessons we learn along the way are invaluable. And that is what life is all about. It's not about being perfect. Life is about learning and growing. And until next time, take care and don't forget to breathe.